Torrey Pines State Park

From now on I know where I will be running when I am in San Diego.

Forested. Ocean vistas. Sandstone formations. Wildflowers. Panoramic Views. Wicked.

I ended up hammering at a 7:30 pace for a good spell as I twisted thru the mazey trails jamming to Xavier Rudd and Eminem.

Also, was fortunate to be far enough from the epi-center of an earthquake yesterday, but felt it...kinda felt like a dizzy spell. 5.4 on the ole' Richter Scale.

Finally...

Well, it was about time I had a decent workout...Saturday's brick was good, 54/8. With 2 weeks until the Long Course I have no clue how I'll feel but I have to say that I am relieved that I at least got one good workout in.

I rode the first half of my ride with Kristina, who had to do 118 miles for the day! Had a solid climb up Olde Stage and then headed back home for a 8 mile out and back trail run...1:13 for 8, I'll take it...a nice departure from the slogging I have been doing as of late.

Lastly, the newest edition to my workouts, post brick weights...enough said (they suck, but I think they may be doing good).

Sunday, swam at Scott Carpenter pool with BJ and Jess to get a jump on the week. Headed to San Diego for a few days for work...hoping to make it up to Torrey Pines State Park for a run or two.

Kickin' it...

OK, not really...though I thought for one quick second I found the answer to my lack of speed, enthusiasm, motivation and drive; the cure for what has ailed me. MUSIC.

It has been at least a few months since I've trained with music; a silly strategy that made me think I would somehow be better prepared for Ironman. On yesterday's 12-mile slog, I ran into my wife (go figure) a few miles in...she kindly gave me her Ipod. Seconds later I was like...YEAH! WOO-HOO! FO' SHIZ! SWEET! I was really moving...like a minute a mile faster. Hadn't really given much thought to the fact that it was like 25 degrees cooler and I was running downhill. DER!

To make an even 12, I diverted up a steep trail for about a 1/2 mile, kickin' it with Xavier Rudd. The down shredded my legs. By mile 9, my old chum, fatigue, was back as I ran beside an ennormous rainbow; a light drizzle giving life to everything but my legs. 12 miles done, 9:59's.

While music proved not to be the variable that I thought it might, it was a welcome distraction..one that I plan not to run without if I can help it.

Yummah

Quick change of pace...no triathlon talk or heart rate zone chatter...

Let's talk beer...wicked tastey beer - 2 of them...For the last too long to remember, I've had the IPA hook in me...so the adventerous side of me said..."sample, try them all, so many good ones out there..."

Well, the search is over, hands down these two are the best IPA's I've had in almost forever...Fort Collins Brewery's Rocky Mountain IPA and Kona Brewing Co.'s Fire Rock Pale Ale...definately worth a try or two...

Facing your demons - Part 2

Recovery is slow going...4+ weeks since IM and I am still not back to 100%...The aches and pains from the crash have subsided, the 2 day hernia is gone...but my legs are still tired and still loving sleep!

I went for a ride with a buddy on Monday and had spaghetti legs at best...not to mention that the pedal and handlebars need to be addressed before this weekend's ride. He's a strong rider, and I wasn't having any of his pushing it up hills...Mentally anguished but physically content at 16 mph.

The run to this point has been pretty much the same...a struggle to run a solid sub 10 minute mile. Listening to my body, its saying "slow down fool"...almost time to re-evaluate my goal of beating last year's Long Course time. Almost...

12 mile run tomorrow - we'll see what that brings. Hopefully not another 100 degree day for I may melt!

Facing your demons - Part 1

The last several days have been hell...hot mostly. Additionally, I feel like crap since wrecking on the bike last week...all sorts of "phantom" aches and pains...and of course the fatigue that still lingers from IM. Mentally, I am ready...the guilt of doing nothing has begun to nag, so I do what any exersize obsessed individual would do...I get off my tired ass and try to train for some of my planned races...der!

Saturday's workout, a 45/6 brick ended up being a 40/6.7 miler in 100 degree heat...in sum, the bike pissed me off to the point of no return because my left aero bar and pedal were jacked up from wiping out, so I cut it short...The run loop around the Rez and Coot Lake was OK at first, but soon turned into what seemed like a death march...All this suckiness was compounded exponentially by the nagging groin pull, hernia, "carjone in a vise" like feeling that I had been experiencing over the last few days...my demons at this point had me. Fini!

Sunday, I rolled out of bed at 5am...(a first in a long while) and had the devil in me...Breakfast of a 1/2 bagel, a 1/2 cup of coffee and 4 vitamin I's to keep my pains at bay and I hopped in the car and headed to Olde Stage in Boulder, for today was the Peak Triathlon. My plan was to don a devil outfit, camp out on the steeped part of Old Stage and heckle, cajole and assist anyone and everyone I could to get up the hill...including my wife, a few HEPsters, a few SKIRTS, a few buddies and Sister Madonna Buder. I think that I may forever pass on doing the Peak so that I can do this instead...note that it also included about 40 hill repeat runs up the steepest part of the hill.

The highlight of the day (apart from seeing Kristina hammer up Olde Stage) was...running along side Sister Madonna, who may well be one of the most inspirational people I have ever met. If you haven't heard of her, do yourself a favor..Google. In a nut shell, and my details may be slightly off - 78 years young, and I mean young...Catholic nun, Ironman, Kona finisher, marathoner, and boy does she have a sense of humor...On her way up Olde Stage, she saw me and said something to the effect of "I thought I might see you out here". I ran with her to the crest of the hill, and then she was off...what irony...it was beautiful!

Low lights of the day were two...Two toolboxes on Olde Stage, both completely bankrupt of any sense of wit and neither all that stellar on the bike...While being coaxed up the climb one replied "get the f#%k away from me", and the other "go help someone who needs help"...Bitches, you're lucky I didn't stick my pitchfork in your spokes...you know who you are...

A few beers for lunch with the Gumkowskis, a solid nap and I woke up feeling pretty OK...the vitamin I did its trick...a day well spent.

Crash

Had a ride and a crash for lunch today...

11:47 am - booked down to the locker room at work.

11:49 am- realized that I grabbed the wrong damn HRM strap, this tempo ride will be totally on feel rather than hard data.

11:52 am- changed and out the door.

11:55 am - head south on 79th up this grind that usually doesn't feel
remotely this good.

12:00 noon - this is gonna be one good ride...legs feel great.

12:20 pm - a BMC rider blows by me like I am parked, even though I am holding a solid 16 mph on that wickedly annoying 2% grade on the way out of Boulder on Hwy 36 towards Lyons.

12:31 pm - over the two short climbs on Hwy 36...grooving, hammering even a little...empty head lead to random thoughts on remembering this gear ratio for the Long Course. I look down. Big ring, 3rd cog down in the back...I re-check.

12:32 pm - my front wheel gets stuck on a rut just off the shoulder. In aero. No brakes. No control. Off the road. Over the handlebars. Off the embankment. Slow motion-ish. 15 feet down. Thud. On to my left shoulder and hip...and here comes the bike. Landed right beside me. Phew.

12:32 pm still - laying on my back. Breathing. Assessing. Breathing more. F&%k , that was scary! I get up, drag myself and my bike up the embankment. As I reach the top, a lady in a car had stopped to see if I was OK...she saw it all happen...thanks for stopping.

12:33 pm - a rider stops to lend a hand and an allen wrench, as my handlebars are torqued... come to find out it was a guy named Andrew Bajadali, a pro who I'd watched kick some serious ass climbing a stage at the Tour of Georgia a few years back...thanks man

12:38 pm - trying to control my incessant shaking, I hand back the wrench, check my wheels, chain etc...as suggested and saddle up.

1:45 pm - 16 miles later, 26 for the day I get back to work.

1:50 pm - no freakin' towel...I took it home on Friday to wash it. No shower...Ugh.

2:05 pm - lost the last 15 minutes somewhere...trying to clean myself up...5 minutes late to a meeting.

2:10 pm - picking little wheat thingies out of my hair in the meeting and for the balance of the day.

So there you have it...the official accident report...I am OK, bike is OK!

Things I lost today:

• 2 water bottles
• Bike tool
• Skin on shoulder and leg
• Blood
• Pride

Things I gained today:

• Learned the exact gear ratio I will use in the Long Course on that stretch of road
• Clearer understanding of how important it is to not lose focus while riding, ever...
• Sore back, shoulder and hip
• Bruises
• New and more aerodynamic bike position after cranking my handlebars and flying over them

RIDE SAFE!

Sunday's were made for rest and a few other essential tasks

Got out of bed way too early on a day where I could have slept in...it's a whole lot tougher getting out of bed Monday thru Friday...which is, I suppose, one of those mysteries that will for eternity go unexplained.

At any rate...woke up, sore...maybe it was the hill repeats, but moreso, I think the weights. 1 x 20, 12 total body exercises and abs following the brick...I was lifting only slightly more than the 74-year old granny that was hogging all the machines yesterday afternoon...Good thing Sunday's were made for rest.

After I got done putzing around...and boy can I putz...just ask Kristina; Lunz had a swim and I had a saunter around a 3-mile trail near home that I definitely intend to run sometime soon...Partially shaded with trees that remind me of New England, with an occasional horse farm and lots of bunnies for Luna to chase. This morning, her encounter with a blindfolded horse who was grazing in the early morning sun was hilarious; she adeptly crouched up to the horse on her belly like a tiger...on the other side of the fence of course...and then let out her signature "woh-whhhooooooow" bark and then ran in the opposite direction...the horse didn't miss a beat, grazing on some tall green weeds...

So, essential task #1...take Luna swimming. Essential task #2...grocery shopping. Our third objective for the day was so sweet. We took a trip to Franktown; to, for lack of a better word, a "puppy farm"...37 dogs, 4 breeds, puppies...it was perfect.

We just recently made the decision that Lunz needs a little sister that she can mold and nurture and create mischief with...I remember when Josey and Luna first met, an Easter Sunday after we picked up Luna in a shady, drug deal sort of transaction at a BK on Colfax Avenue on our way home from a party...me, half (3/4) in the bag and Kristina anxiously behind the wheel ...Joz and Lunz were a match made in heaven.

At any rate, we saw the dogs and I got to hold a little pup...who consequently bit my nose and was a little growler, just like Luna. We put down a deposit and will wait until the next liter after IM Wisconsin to pick the new addition to the family...if we could I'd take all of them and have my own "puppy farm". Maybe we'll call her Willow?

Other essential tasks for the day...nap, pale ale and London Broil on the grill, fo' shiz....I love Sundays.

You know the day has been long and hot when...

.....your sink looks like this after a workout! Kristina's day was the long one...her biggest brick to date; a 64-mile ride/15 mile run....and Me, only a measly 45-mile ride, a 6-mile tempo run with hill repeats at the Rez and weights for the first time in ages.

Even though the thermometer only read 84 degrees, it felt a heck of a lot hotter at times. Overall, I felt pretty OK with a few moments of feeling great and another few of feeling like burnt-to-a-crisp-toast...pretty sure I am not totally recovered yet as I really like sleep, A LOT. Bike was a solid 19.6 mph on the really fast 5430 course and the run averaged just over 9's...which really shows me that over the shorter distance, while I am by no means fast...I am faster.

Total fluid consumed by K and I during yesterday's workouts:

• 9 x 24 oz water bottles
• 1 x 20 oz aero bottle
• 2 x 8 0z Fuel Belt bottles
• 1 x 60 oz Camelback
• Total: 312 oz or 2.44 gallons of good 'ole H2O
  

Hot ass run...cool ass bottle!

Good grief...we're having a teence of a hot spell lately....My new plan has me running 5 days a week, which for all intents and purposes better make me a fast(er) runner...Z2 in 96 degree weather, I may as well be running on the friggin' sun...

OK, OK...I know...S.I.U.B...."suck it up buttercup". It's the new slogan out on the street...since Fuel Belt has pirated H.T.F.U. from the Brits...live it, love it...be the ball...nah, nah, nah, nahhhh!

On another note, green & really cool...sometime next month, you'll be able to buy BioGreen water bottles at bike shops that carry products from California Bike Gear. BioGreen bottles are supposedly the first "made with a bio-degrading additive that is activated when the bottle has outlived its useful life and is disposed of in a landfill, dump or backyard compost pile. . . . (so when it is funk nasty). Additionally, the company states that there is no noticeable difference compared to regular bottles.

• Cost: $5-6
• Benefit: clear conscience knowing that your old water bottles aren't clogging the landfill...

Why can't I come up with this stuff???

Begin again finally...

I met with Craig earlier this week to build the best laid plans for the rest of my 2008 year...4 races...

• 5430 Long Course - my object here will be to attempt to annihilate my time from last year. God willing.
  
• Steamboat Springs Triathlon - this race will be all about fun...so many HEPsters will be there, Steamboat is beautiful...most likely my last 2008 tri.
  
• Boulder Backroads Marathon - a really long training run supported. All z2-ish.
  
• Denver Marathon - I know that I really need to work on my running...anything after about 18 for me is a disaster...so if I am lucky, maybe a PR.

The plan is to focus on the run, get strong, HTFU...I'll get into some uncharted waters...45 miles a week. Also, the beginnings of a high rep weight training plan that I will carry thru the off-season with my sites set on IM Wisconsin 2009. Really glad to get going again...maybe then I won't feel like sleeping all the time...ZZZZZ

Another year, another Tour...

Saturday I woke up, excited!!

Relax...not excited like that...excited that once again it was Tour de France time. Amidst the doping, politics, cynics and critics...I still love the Tour and always will. After all what's not to love...an epic test of human endurance and will, on arguably some of the most beautiful and challenging stretches of pavement in the world,...the history, the strategy, the sportsmanship, the glory...go on I can...

Every year for 21 days in July we let our Tour flag fly, this year will be no different...and again this year Kristina was out of bed before me to swap out the "Stars and Stripes" for the "drapeau jaune".

Having watched for the past two stages, my early prediction is barn burner! I am especially digging the "Take Back the Tour" guerrilla marketing tactics that Versus has put into play thoughlast year they weren't sounding any horns... it's EDGY!

While Versus has outdone themselves with their ads, especially " A new stage begins..."which is pretty much a slap in the face to the likes of Floyd, Vino, Jan and all the other dopes...this dutch commercial, a Michael Rasmussen slam is certainly a classic!

baby fishes...

When our group gets together, often "tri-speak" dominates the conversation. One topic that keeps surfacing is "how in the hell are some people such fast swimmers and others not"?; usually this question is posed by us slower folk.

I do my drills...I've got the catch...whipping on a solid throw...working the hips...so what's the freakin' deal?

At lunch today, I had a chat with John, the owner of Dean Bikes . Not only is he a sick frame builder and arteest...he's a life long swimmer; as are his wife and now kids...he has a daughter that's a star atop her pre-adolescent age group. When I asked him the question that has vexed us for what seems like forever...he said "you need to learn when you're young, really young...that's when you totally figure out to get thru the water, FAST."

So, I equate his answer with speaking a foreign language, because at a really basic level (for humans) swimming is just that. If you learn when you're a baby...fluency is mastered much more easily, readily...if you learn late...habla un poco...if you haven't learned until now...habla nada!......Not really, just the learning curve steeper and achieving fluency are much more difficult to attain.

So, next time you're in the water, getting you ass handed to you...logic dictates that the ass-hander was most likely a baby fish...and the handee not.